


Ghosts? Not so much

by thewinterangel



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Bookstore!AU, Humor, Kinda, M/M, does this exist already or, sassy armin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-10 23:50:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3307778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewinterangel/pseuds/thewinterangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin's bookstore has no luck. Everytime a customer comes in they get scared of the weird moaning noises and leave before they could even pay for what they wanted. Apparently, the bookstore was haunted.</p><p>But, are those really ghosts or something else?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts? Not so much

**Author's Note:**

> Got the idea from a Tumblr post. The idea of Armin sassing up is just too amazing for me. Oh, and please be patient, it takes a while until you reach the Ereri part.
> 
> Enjoy!

''Thank you for purchasing, come back soon!'', Armin always said that right before a customer left his bookstore. It was small, in the middle of the city. The walls were covered in wood, creating a perfect warm interior feeling. The ceiling was missing a few pieces of the facade, but the store was three floors high, so no one really payed much attention to it. The first two floors were basically balconies on the inside, a fence protecting the customers from the gap between floors. The place was rather old, Armin inherrited it from his grandfather. He didn't know his grandpa even had a bookstore, but after his will had been carried out, this beautiful abandoned store fell into Armin's hands. Books were his favorite way of entertainment, after all, so running a bookshop was no problem.

The store had three floors. The first and second floor were available to the customers; the whole place was basically a mini library, filled with books of all sorts, except that you had to pay for the books. Not that Armin cared about money, though. He just wanted people to enjoy the beauty of books, the amazing way of creating stunning universes and heartbreaking stories with only 26 letters. And that's just for books in English. According to Armin, literature should definitely be free. But, his friends thought otherwise. They all advised him to put a price on each of those books, no matter how small. But he will need money to stay well fed, so why not make money from something you enjoy doing? He didn't really agree, but they did have a point. He needs the money, and this was currently the only way to earn some.

The third floor was strictly private. When Armin first saw the place, he noticed that the third floor was the only one with multiple rooms, while other floors were just one big room. So, he decided to make a home out of the third floor. Living at his beloved workplace was amazing. His connection to books was very strong, so the decision seemed perfect.

It's been two months since Eren moved in with him. Only temporarily, though. Eren's cooking skills were horrible, really. It was no surprise to hear that Eren accidentally burned his apartment down while trying to make noodles for himself. Obviously, he failed; Eren's side of the story is that he left the stove on for just a minute and suddenly it all went into flames. Armin didn't really believe that; after the fire brigade's analysis they established the cause of the fire was a handkerchief being too close to the fire on the stove. Armin slammed Eren on the back of his head. Turns out Eren wanted to dry the handkerchief which was wet, so he put it close to the fire.

So now, he was here. At least until the renovations in his apartment were over. Eren _was_ Armin's best friend, after all. And besides, he had room for one more person. Eren spent most of his time either up there in the guest room (yes, Armin had a guest room), or outside hanging out with Mikasa, Jean and others. Armin would've gone too, but he had a job to do. 

''Thank you for purchasing, come back soon!'', he said his famous sentance as his customer nodded and left. It was the first customer of the day, and it was quite early, so Armin was pretty satisfied with this. He smiled to himself, putting the money his customer gave him in the cashier. As he closed the cashier, he heard a loud thump. His eyebrows fell into a frown, his head turning around. It was quite a loud thump, and he had no idea where it came from. Right as he was about to step away from the cashier and go look for the source, the doors opened, ringing the little bell on the top of it. He twitched and stepped back in his place.

''Good day to you, miss! Anything I can help you with?'', Armin smiled softly, making the young lady that just entered the store twitch a little. She had red hair tied in pigtails, and big round glasses, wearing a long red winter coat. She also had a black scarf wrapped around her neck, and black gloves. It was cold outside, so Armin couldn't blame her.

''U-um, no thank you, I would just like to browse for a while.'', she said with an extreme amount of insecurity. Armin nodded and opened his hand towards the rest of the store, smiling.

''Be my guest.'', he said, and the girl looked away. She seemed incredibly shy. Armin loved these kind of people; he could completely sympathyse with them. Even though you can't talk to people without feeling tense, there are always books. Books, that often make you feel better than people.

The lady strolled through the first floor, but obviously didn't find anything that caught her eye, so she continued up to the second floor. Armin threw his eyes at the lady here and there, seeing if she needed any help. But when he made sure she was fine, he just returned to his high chair, listing through an encyclopeida about the world. It was his favorite one, he already read it three times at least. Just as he turned a page, there was a high-pitched squeel. Armin jumped off of the chair and ran to the center of the room, looking up, searching for the lady.

''Miss?? What happened?'', Armin yelled right away, but then noticed the lady was running down the stairs, still squeeling, her glasses bouncing up and down her nose. He walked over to the bottom of the stairs and waited for her to come down. Good thing he did, because she tripped over her long coat and flew forward, crashing right into Armin's chest. He could feel her trembling and shaking. 

''Wha- is everything okay?'', he asked, completely baffled with what was going on. The lady gripped Armin's shirt tight and squeeled once more, not saying a word.

''Miss!'', Armin grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her backwards to look at her face; she looked terrified.

''Th-there are g-gho-ghosts in this p-place...'', she mumbled out, still shaking. Armin frowned and shook his head, trying to understand what she just said.

''Wait, what? Ghosts?'', he repeated, his hands gripping her shoulders. She nodded.

''I heard them! The-they're up there, in th-the walls, they're m-mad for us being h-here!'', the lady seemed serious about this. Armin looked up and frowned again.

''I don't- I don't understand, where did you--'', he started, but the lady pushed him away and ran away crying, leaving the door of the store open. Armin was left standing there, his mouth slightly open, not understanding a thing. 

''Ghosts?'', he mumbled to himself, slowly and carefully stepping up the stairs. So far the only sounds he heard were the creaks of the wooden staircase he was climbing. He finally reached the second floor and stopped. He looked around, not sure of what he was looking for, but he did so anyway. His breathing was silent and slow, focusing on any sounds other than his breaths. Nothing. Armin frowned again, even mroe confused as to why the lady panicked that much, and over what. He finally gave up, sighing and turning back to walk downstairs.

''AAAAARMIN!'', suddenly a bang was heard, and the little bell at the front door sounded like someone just broke it. Armin jumped and felt his heart stop for a second. It was Hanji.

''Phew, Hanji, it's you... Please be more gentle with the door next time, I almost had a heart attack!'', Armin joked as he descended to face Hanji.

''What's gotten into you, you look like you've seen a ghost!'', Hanji pushed her glasses up, smirking at the blonde boy. Armin giggled.

''Close. I just had a customer that ran away because she _heard ghosts_...'', Armin said, pouted his lips and kept nodding his head. ''...Yeah, I don't know what just happened.'', he burst out laughing, making Hanji do the same thing.

''Oh but Armin, you know, ghosts are real! Don't make fun of the dead!'', Hanji scratched the back of her head. Armin shook his head.

''I'm not saying they're not real! I just... I mean, this customer was a bit shaky when she first came in. And the fact that only _she_ heard it and I didn't makes me even more suspiscious.'' Armin walked over to the cashier and sat down, a slight frown visible on his face. Hanji snickered.

''Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I just came by to give you this, I found it on the street today, thought you might want to check it out.'', Hanji said, slamming an old book on Armin's desk. The blonde smiled and nodded.

''Thank you, Hanji!'', he said and got down from his chair again to reach for the book.

''Tche, always so nice. Honestly, more people should be like you!'', Hanji said and ruffled Armin's hair, to which Armin pushed her hand away.

''Please don't do that..'', he blushed a little, but couldn't keep a smile away. Hanji laughed and stepped out of the store, yelling her goodbyes to Armin.

 

Two hours passed by, and no customers came by the store. Armin thought it was weird, 'cause it wasn't normal. Sure, it wasn't the most popular bookstore, but even _this_ was too weird. However, despite his worries, the bell rang again; it was a little brown-haired boy.

''Hello there! Can I help you?'', his smile was soft as always. The boy looked at him with his big blue eyes, confused. He looked as if he didn't understand what Armin was saying.

''Ah pardon, he just ran inside on his own.'', suddenly a man appeared behind the boy, grabbing the boy's hand. The man was a wearing a suit, and his brown hair was combed backwards.

''It's no problem at all!'', Armin smiled even wider. Politeness was his thing, he couldn't avoid it. Sometimes he overdid it, but the people around him got use to it, so he came to peace with it. The man raised his look and noticed the small but beautiful kingdom of literature.

''Whoa, that's a lot of books.'', the man sounded more like he was muttering it to himself, but Armin heard it anyway.

''Feel free to look around!'', Armin stretched out his hand again, just like he did with the lady. The man smiled and started walking around with the boy, holding his hand. Armin just hoped this time he'll successfully sell a book, unlike the last time he had a customer. The man and the boy both started climbing the stairs for the second floor; the blonde kept his eyes on them. They were walking around the bookshelves, the boy being more fascinated by Armin than the books. Armin threw a little wave at the boy every now and then, and the boy giggled happily. 

''Excuse me, sir...'', the man said, turning over the fence, holding a book in his hand. Armin twitched in his spot and put his hands behind his back.

''Call me Armin!'', he smiled again. He was always friendly with his customers. The man smiled back.

''Okay, Armin, I was wondering what this b--'', the man began, but was interrupted by something. He turned towards the wall and got closer to it. Armin frowned; not again, he thought. The man stood there for about seven seconds, but then just dropped the book, picked the boy up and ran down the stairs. Armin started feeling desperate; this again?

''No, no, no, sir please don't go!'', the blonde said, annoyed by the fact that he didn't know what was happening. If this goes on, he'll have to close the store down.

''Are you kidding me, this is too creepy, I'm not staying here, not even for a second!'', the man yelled, holding the boy tight in his arms. Armin covered his eyes with his palm, but then dropped it on his mouth. The man jumped over the last step and ran out of the store as fast as he could, leaving Armin staying there with his arms wide open, not understanding anything. As the door slammed, he let out an angry sigh, climbing up to the second floor once more. But this time, as he reached the top, he heard something.

The sounds were weird. Armin's frown deepened as he approached the wall; someone was... laughing?

Armin's whole body froze. Where are these sounds coming from? Who is this? Could these really be ghosts? Armin's brain was working like mad. He slammed his ear against the wall between the bookshelves to hear it better. But, the sounds changed.

''What the--'', Armin twitched as he heard the change happen, and he jumped away from the wall, bumping into the fence. All Armin heard now were some kind of moans. And each got louder and louder. Armin's heart went berserk; was the lady right? Was this place really haunted?

'' _Nnngh oh Levi.._ '', he managed to recognise words between the moans.

''Levi..?'', he muttered, and then realised. His face turned red, his skin crawled and his rage emerged. Armin's face felt like it was going to explode. Eren. Eren was home all this time. And apparently, he wasn't alone. He climbed up the stairs of the third floor and reached the door separating the bookstore from their apartment. They were kept locked all the time, since there were always people who thought the third floor was available too, so something had to stop them. Armin raised his hand and started banging on the door full fist, no words. 

It took a while until the door opened. Finally, Armin saw Eren in front of him; the only thing covering his body was a sheet he held on his chest with one hand. He was sweaty and out of breath, his hair ruffled and neck full of bite marks. Eren smiled innocently.

''Armin, uh, hey buddy.. Sorry, but this isn't really a good ti--''

''What the hell do you think you're doing.'', Armin's face was blank.

''Wha-''

''I asked you something.''

''Umm.. I'm- Levi is actually here, and we're, uh..'', Eren looked down to his sheet, ''Armin, do I really need to say it?''

''No. In fact, you're saying it too much.'', Armin's face was still blank, and it slightly freaked Eren out.

''What? Saying it too much- Armin, what are you talking about??'', Eren seemed very confused.

''I should ask you the same thing, since your words were a bit hard to understand through the walls.'', Armin crossed his hands and frowned. Eren raised an eyebrow.

''The walls? I don't unde--'', Eren started, but suddenly he realised. ''Oh God, you heard us..''. Armin kept his stare on Eren.

''Oh, and I wasn't the only one.'', his voice was a bit deeper. Eren's eyes flew wide open and his grip on the sheet grew tighter.

''Wh-what? Who... Who else?'', Eren asked, his face filling with shame. Armin noticed his ears turn red.

''Let me tell you what I went through today. A lovely shy lady came by today, strolling around, looking for a book that will soothe her boredom. But suddenly she screamed and ran away, because she heard ghosts.'', Armin used a dramatic tone of voice now. His eyebrows were following the drama of his words. ''Ghosts, Eren. She heard ghosts moaning.'', he clenched his eyes. '' _Moaning._ ''

Eren twitched and slammed his mouth with his hand; sadly, it was the hand holding the sheet that covered his lower body. Armin noticed it and his eyes flew wide open, but his body reacted in a wiser way; he quickly turned on his heel, facing the other way.

''Eren, what the hell??'', Armin screaming, feeling the blood raise up to his face. Eren gasped and quickly bent down to pick the sheet up.

''Uh, sorry, sorry.. But Armin, were- were we really that loud?'', he immediatelly asked. Armin turned around again and frowned again.

''Oh I don't know, why don't you ask the guy who left my store like he was running for his life with a little boy in his arms?'', the blonde's gaze was like a killer's, really. Eren used his other hand to slam his face, obviously drowning in shame.

''Oh my... Levi!!'', Eren screamed, turning away and walking further into the apartment. Of course, as he turned, he uncovered his behind, so Armin was fully able to see everything. He simply sighed and covered his eyes with his hand.

''Eren, I swear to God...'', he said. He knew Eren couldn't hear him, but he couldn't help it.

''What now?'', Armin heard Levi yell out of the guest room. He stepped in and closed the door behind him.

''Levi, customers.. They heard us, and they ran away because they thought we were ghosts!'', Eren panicked and sat next to Levi on the bed, dropping his sheet now completely. Levi was lying on the bed, uncovered, with an arm resting on his forehead. Armin walked into the room, but the moment he saw both Levi and Eren naked now, he jumped and turned again, covering his eyes.

''God damn it Eren, you should've told him I was here!!'', Armin lost his usual cool. He was done with being calm. He had lost two customers today, and it probably won't stop there, since they will most likely tell the ghost tale to others. Eren shook his head and pulled a cover both over himself and Levi.

''Hey, why do I have to cover up, he's the one who shouldn't even be in here.'', Levi complained with his deep voice. Eren lowered his head.

''Well it _is_ his apartment, Levi..'', Eren said with his head down. Armin's shoulders were shaking both out of tension and anger. He lost it; he turned back and shot them both with a death glare. 

''You two scared my customers away. You _scared_ them away!'', Armin yelled. Eren twitched and avoided eye contact with Armin, but Levi just sat up, frowning at Armin.

''What?'', Levi asked.

''We were too loud.'', Eren leaned to whisper to Levi.

''You still are, 'cause I can even hear you whisper.'', Armin raised an eyebrow, causing Eren to blush.

''We were too loud, okay. And you're here to tell us to quiet down?'', Levi asked again.

''No, I'm here with the two of you _naked_ in bed just to invite you to a tea party. _Yes_ , I'm here to tell you to quiet down! They think you're ghosts who're haunting my store!'', Armin snapped. Levi nodded.

''Alright, got it.'', Levi said and leaned back down. ''Eren, you gotta be more silent.''

Eren jumped, shooting Levi with an innocent look. ''What?? I didn't-'', he started panicking, but then caught Armin's death glare and just surrendered. ''Okay..''

Armin sighed, finally relaxing a little. ''Thank you. I'm going back there. And you better not make a sound.'', he was rarely this serious. The blonde boy turned around and walked out of the apartment, returning to the cashier. Finally, his troubles were over.

 

The new customer was beautiful. Armin couldn't take his eyes off of the girl in front of him. She had long, golden hair, and her dress fitted her body just perfectly. He accompanied her on the second floor, helping her find the perfect book to read while she was on a job break. They were getting along so well, Armin liked her more and more by the second.

'' _Mmm, Levi, yeah, right there, nghh..._ ''

 

There was a scream.

And then there was no customer.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope the characters aren't too OOC. 
> 
> Do let me know what you think, I love to hear different opinions! ^^


End file.
